A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday approved an agreement between BP and the Justice Department for the company to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges and pay $4 billion in penalties for the

The Coast Guard said Tuesday that about 7,000 gallons of crude oil was unaccounted for after a barge crash on Sunday near Vicksburg on the Mississippi River, about 16 miles of which remained closed

Two oil barges pushed by a tugboat slammed into a railroad bridge in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on Sunday, causing one to leak crude oil into the Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

NEW DELHI: Beijing's air pollution made international news over the weekend when fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the city air rose to an 'out-of-index' level of 755 mg/cu m. Pictures showed Beijing residents wearing masks amid advisories that they should stay indoors. Meanwhile, it was business as usual in Delhi on Monday when despite a clear windy day, the PM2.5 levels ranged from 130 to 565 mg/cu m.

According to World Health Organization, the safe level of PM2.5 is 20 mg/cu m. The Indian standard for this pollutant — that can cause respiratory illnesses and worsen heart ailments — is 60 mg/cu m.

An Exxon Mobil pipeline spill into the Yellowstone River in 2011 would have been far less severe if the company had not delayed closing valves, a report issued on Wednesday by federal pipeline regu

Plans to charter floating terminal land-based project to be ready by '16

Petronet LNG Limited is planning to charter a floating LNG (liquefied natural gas) storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to bring LNG to the AP coast early by 2014 while it expects to complete the land-based LNG terminal at Gangavaram port by 2016. The company made this revelation after it concluded the public hearing for developing the land-based terminal on Thursday. “Petronet LNG Limited is fully committed to this project and is working on various options for bringing gas early, to meet the energy deficit, both in the state and in other parts of the country,” the company said while stating that chartering an FSRU was being considered to bring LNG much ahead of the completion of land-based terminal.

JAIPUR: RIICO's efforts to set up a ceramic and glass zone at Ghilot in Alwar got a fillip on Sunday with the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) agreeing to provide natural gas linkage to the project. The announcement came during the CeraGlass-2012 conference, jointly organized by RIICO, CII and ICS.

The zone has been proposed in the 750-acre area to promote manufacturing of ceramic and glass products. S N Kumar, general manager (O&M), JLPL and zonal marketing, GAIL, said, "GAIL will extend the Sultanpur-Neemrana Pipeline to Ghilot to meet the gas requirements of the same and to set up the zone on 750 acres of land."

The Coast Guard will conduct a major national level pollution response exercise here tomorrow to test the preparation and coordination between various agencies in response to a marine oil spill.

BP Plc will pay $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which caused the worst U.S. offshore oil spill ever.